Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

55th Street Session IPA

Brewery: 55th Street Craft Brewery
Country: Taiwan
ABV: 4.8%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: Hops – Citra, Centennial and Cascade

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brewed mostly with Citra, Centennial and Cascade hops. This beer is hoppy and citrusy, refreshing and light bodied. It is low in alcohol but full of character, ultimately highly satisfying! Best paired with a light meal and Summer Breeze! Our Session IPA is the first of a limited release series of small batch beers.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.08
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle bottled on 14th March 2016 and poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy golden orange colour with a nice three finger white head that had great retention and left nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Citrus lemon and lime, some light tropical peach and apricot, good strong pine and a hint of breadiness at times.
Taste: Light grapefruit bitterness, pine, peach, passionfruit and a hint of honey and bread.
Mouthfeel: Dry, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A nice Session IPA that is easily drinkable.

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55th street session ipa 4

Birra del Borgo Prunus

Brewery: Birra del Borgo
Country: Italy
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Fruit Beer
Other Notes: 21 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Prunus (from the cherry’s bothanical name, Prunus Avium or Cerasus according to variety) is made adding to our spelt beer Duchessa about 20% of fresh cherries with their stones. Differently from the typical Belgian kriek, it is not too sour as it keeps some of the Duchessa’s smoothness. Yet it’s not sugary indeed, thanks to the well balanced bitter aftertaste.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.92
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of September 2017 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy orange golden colour with a thin white head that doesn’t stick around and only leaves some light lacing.
Aroma: Tart, sour, cherry, apple vinegar and light funkiness.
Taste: Like the aroma, taste is tart, sour cherry, sour apple and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Dry, crisp, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice and easy to drink, but I preferred Rubus slightly more.

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birra del borgo prunus 4

Birra del Borgo x Dogfish Head My Antonia

Brewery: Birra del Borgo x Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Country: Italy
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American Imperial Pilsner
Other Notes: 76 IBUs. Continually-hopped Imperial Pils

Brewer Description: (from website) 10-28-2008 was a great day for me… Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head Brewery, one of the most well-known American brewers, came to Borgorose to create and brew a special beer in collaboration with us. We chose a style: a Pilsner. But obviously not a regular one… we designed a something stronger, around 7% ABV and of course it had to be hoppy! We choose the malt: Pilsner and Cara-Pils. Easy! Sam chooses two hops, Simcoe and Warrior, I choose the third one: Saaz. Traditional and new ingredients together. We start the mash, then we lauter and start the boil, the crowning moment. Before the boil started Sam mixed the hops creating a wonderfully perfumed potion. Once the mix was ready we started hopping. A fistful of hops was added every minute for 60 minutes… The result? An intriguing beer, extremely perfumed, where floral and resiny notes mix together. The mouth feel is explosive but balanced at the same time. The honey notes form the malts and the peppery ones from the hops mix in a very elegant and precise finish. I can’t stop drinking it, it’s my new favorite…

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of October 2016 and poured into a Mikkeller pint glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy golden orange colour with a two finger slightly off white head that had great retention and left thick sticky lacing.
Aroma: Citrus lemon and orange, some pineapple and a hint of grass and herbs.
Taste: Sweet honey, lemon and orange with a hint of grapefruit and herbal bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: This was a great and refreshing Pilsner. Aromas were a bit weak but it looks and tastes good.

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birra del borgo x dogfish head my antonia 4

Surly x Three Floyds x Real Ale Blakkr

Brewery: Surly Brewing Company x Three Floyds Brewing Co. x Real Ale Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 9.99%
Style: American Black IPA
Other Notes: Collaboration beer. Surly version.

Brewer Description: (from can) This double black as night IPA is too massive for just one brewery’s efforts. BLAKKR took the trinity of Real Ale Brewing Co., Surly Brewing Co. & Three Floyds Brewing Co. to actualize this crushing ale. Cheers.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 1 pint can canned on 26th January 2016 and poured into an oversized wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a dark dark brown colour with an orange hue and a slightly less than one finger tanned head that dissipated fairly quickly but left nice lacing.
Aroma: A mix of piney and citrus orange hops and roasty dark chocolate.
Taste: Starts sweet-ish citrusy orange followed by caramel malt, light roast coffee and chocolate plus a hint of char before ending with a lasting pine and juicy citrus light bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: A nicely balanced Black IPA that hides it’s high ABV well.

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surly x three floyds x real ale blakkr 4

Blaugies x Hill Farmstead La Vermontoise

Brewery: Brasserie de Blaugies x Hill Farmstead Brewery
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: Collaboration beer

Brewer Description: A spelt saison brewed with Amarillo hops and made in collaboration with Hill Farmstead.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.99
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml bottle with a best before end year of 2018 and poured into a Cantillon Iris ballon glass.
Appearance: It poured a very nice clear golden colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Farmhouse mustiness, straw, hay, red apple, honey, lemon zest and a hint of banana esters.
Taste: Cereal grains, honey, herbal, grassy, zesty lemon with a hint of peach and peppery spice.
Mouthfeel: Dry, light bodied with high lively prickly carbonation.
Overall: A solid saison from Blaugies and Hill Farmstead.

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